Acceptance rates at universities across the United States have fallen in recent years. According to the College Investor, acceptance rates at the top 50 U.S. schools fell from 35.9% in 2006 to 22.6% in 2018.
Why is this happening?
Students are applying to more schools than ever before. According to recent data from the Common Application website, over 1,244,000 students applied to U.S. colleges over the 2022-23 application cycle. This showed a 21% increase from 2019-20, the last year applications were unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Class sizes, or the number of students a college can teach, have remained the same.
Madeleine Rhyneer, dean of enrollment management at the Education Advisory Board (EAB), explained in an interview with U.S. News that the issue lies with students.
“Applications being up just means students are applying to more schools,” said Rhyneer. “If I apply to eight schools instead of six, I can still only attend one.”
Why does this matter?
Students feel the need to apply to more schools to ensure they will be accepted to at least one.
Senior Beatrice Sergeant will attend Cornell University in the fall as a biology major on the pre-medical track. She found the college application process challenging to navigate.
“I applied to 15 [schools],” said Sergeant. “[I did that] to give myself a lot of different options and also to be able to see the different costs of colleges because I really had no idea what to expect going into [the college application process.]”
Aliera Zeledon Morasch works as the college coordinator in the College and Career Center at Lincoln. She has helped students navigate the recent trend of decreasing acceptance rates.
“One piece of advice that I have for students is to build a balanced [college application] list. Take into consideration the acceptance rates and the cost of schools,” said Zeledon Morasch. “When you [get] all those decisions and financial aid packages back, you haven’t locked yourself into one pathway.”
